Keltan's Gambit: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 2

by Michael Formichelli

  There was a noise outside her cell. It rattled down her spine like a nail falling down a tube. It was too soon for another meal, wasn’t it? Or was it? Had Thuban decided to interrogate her again? Was it that time already?

  The morphic compounds in the wall opposite her bed split and pulled away from the seam of the door with a sucking sound, allowing the reinforced polymer door to slide into the floor with a whisper of air. Thuban Vargas stood at the doorway in his black uniform with the gold and opal pin.

  “I’m not talking to you today,” she said. “I’m not in the mood.”

  He stared at her with a sour expression for a moment. “I admire your resolve. You know we can make you talk. Your cerebral computer is pretty advanced, and we can make it work the other way, make it force you tell us what we want to know.”

  “Then why haven’t you?”

  “Because someone important has taken an interest in you.” The voice hadn’t come from Thuban. He moved aside to allow another person to enter her cell. Cygni gasped when she saw who it was.

  Giselle smiled and winked. “You have some powerful friends, Cygni.”

  She frowned. “Who?”

  “Get it,” Giselle told Thuban. He shook his head and moved out of her line of vision, returning a moment later with her jumper and boots, both clean of Sinuthros’ blood, in a neat folded pile. He set it down beside her on the slab and stepped back.

  “Your implant will reactivate when you leave the facility,” he said, half-growling out the words.

  “I know. I’ve been through this before,” she muttered.

  “Leave us,” Giselle sent a withering glare his way.

  With a grunt, Thuban moved out into the hallway.

  Cygni stripped out of the gray prison clothes and pulled her jumper on as fast as she could. She didn’t want to chance someone changing their mind, she couldn’t believe this was happening as it was. “Who’s doing this?”

  “Not here,” Giselle said. “Just be happy someone is. We wouldn’t have known where you were without them. We’ve been worried sick.”

  She looked into her friend’s eyes, but no further explanation was forthcoming. When she was done changing she stood up and hurried through the door. Giselle followed her out to where Thuban was waiting.

  “This way.” Thuban’s tone betrayed his restrained anger. He remained professional, though, leading them through the maze of fastcrete tunnels and up the lift to street level.

  The door opened into the CSA headquarters lobby, a wide space with the Confederation’s flag emblazoned on the marble floor. Two-stories above them the ceiling arched up to a rounded peak with a mosaic that mirrored the symbol on the floor below it. Several agents in black-and-silver uniforms leaned on the railing of a balcony half-way up the black marble walls.

  Cygni moved towards the set of glass doors leading to the street on her left, but froze when Thuban’s hand came up and grabbed her by the arm.

  “You have no idea what you screwed up. This isn’t over by a long shot.” He glared.

  “Thanks for the hospitality. I’ll be sure to give you a good review on Hotelcater.” She shrugged out of his grasp and started walking, hearing him growl behind her.

  “Thank you, Giselle, you are a true friend,” she said, turning and giving her friend a hug once they passed out onto the street. The brine-laden breeze had never felt so good before. “I thought I was finished.”

  “I would never have left you in there, but like I said, someone important took an interest in you—my employer, actually.”

  “Who? Not Revenant?”

  “Of course not. I mean my real employer, the one who hired me to infiltrate Revenant’s barony. Come on, we should get away from here.” Giselle started walking across the street from the large hexagonal building, leaving Cygni to hurry and catch up behind her.

  They walked another block, then turned around a corner to where a black limousine sat idling on the fast-crete pavement. Giselle walked up to the passenger compartment door and stood beside it, resting one hand on top of the vehicle.

  “This is for you,” she said.

  Cygni eyed the dark windows, unable to make out anything within. “You didn’t rent this, did you?”

  “My employer wanted to meet you in person.” Giselle tapped on the limo’s roof.

  The door hissed, and slid aside. She leaned in to see who her mysterious benefactor was, and felt Giselle’s hand on the small of her back. A moment later she found herself shoved into the shadow of the compartment. Giselle followed her in, pushing her body into the plush leather bench.

  “What the hell?” She righted herself, whirling on the other woman who now sat between the closing door and herself. She tried to move forward at her, but a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and thrust her back into her seat. The brutal strength of it got her attention and she followed the four-fingered grip to its owner and let out a yelp of shock.

  “Oh no! No, no, no!”

  The creature seated beside her took up enough space for two humans. The arm holding her down was thick with muscle, and bent at an angle that would have meant a broken elbow for a human, but it was natural for its owner’s double-jointed species. She followed the limb to a broad body whose thick, bone-plated skin made the formal suit he wore taut against his bulk. It was pronounced where his thick legs joined high up on the bulbous lower torso hanging out over the seat’s lip like the abdomen of some massive Earth wasp. Cygni didn’t need to look up to know what species he was. She could already see the curved canines protruding from the whiskered, vee-shaped head in her mind’s eye. The memory of it made her shudder, paralyzing her with fear.

  “What have you done, Giselle?” she whispered. This can’t be happening, she was my friend. How could she do this to me? Her skin went cold and she felt her stomach knot.

  “She’s done as she was paid to do,” a stern, female voice said.

  She looked up, startled by the presence of another being seated in the limo opposite her. Shrouded in a flowing black robe, the small figure’s features were hidden within a deep hood from which flowed two white braids. They spilled down her chest into her lap where pale hands were folded one atop another. Cygni’s mind, clouded and confused by fear and betrayal, took longer than normal to register who she was now seated across from.

  “Baroness.” She gasped.

  The limo lifted off. Once it started to move, the Orgnan released her and folded its arm across its chest in a fashion a human would consider normal.

  “Cygni Lau Aragón, you’re quite the pain in the ass,” Baroness Sophiathena said from the darkness of her hood. “But your friend tells me that you’ll be useful to us.”

  Her eyes darted to Giselle.

  “I know this is a shock to you, but I did tell you I was working for someone other than Revenant. This is freelancing. We do what we must to make a living.” She paused, “But I really do consider us friends. I wouldn’t have told the baroness that we needed you otherwise, and you’d still be in the CSA’s cell.”

  Cygni frowned, confusion twisting in her gut. “Why is the Orgnan here?”

  “To ensure you understand what not cooperating means,” the baroness said.

  “I tried to tell her he wasn’t needed, but—“ Giselle shrugged.

  Cygni stared at her, not quite believing what she just heard. “Are you going to kill me?”

  The baroness let out a girlish giggle. “Fear does such interesting things to otherwise intelligent people. Doesn’t it, Targth?”

  The Orgnan snorted.

  What is an Orngan doing here? The thought rose through the fog of fear in Cygni’s brain. It didn’t make sense that he was.

  “No, Miss Aragón, we are not going to kill you. Giselle is quite the admirer of yours, and as she just explained, your skills, and those of your team, are better served being put to work for me.”

  Cygni didn’t want to work for the baroness, this was her story, her triumph—or it had been. The harsh breathing of the Org
nan beside her was all it took to make her realize her story was gone. She wouldn’t go back to being the Orgnan’s—she couldn’t. She’d die first. There was only one option open to her now.

  “I was going to make sure your arrest was kept quiet, but it seems Agent Vargas was already set on it for whatever reason. No doubt he intended to use you to some advantage for his House. Whatever the case, Giselle will make sure the arrest records disappear. I need you free if I am to use you properly.” The baroness gestured with a pale hand as she spoke.

  Cygni stared at the darkness of the hood, trying to understand what life was going to be like for her now.

  “I’m going to give you a choice, Miss Aragón. You either accept that you work for me now, or I let Targth here take you to Kharg Rogkoth. Giselle tells me you remember well what the hospitality of the Khargs is like. They, of course, remember you.”

  The Orgnan at her side laughed, a rasping sound that sent shivers down her back and tossed her stomach into turmoil.

  “I see that you do. You’ll report to work at Cosmos Corp as normal tomorrow. Your recent absences will be explained by a sudden and violent illness brought about by an imbalance in your nanoimmunity system. Due to recent events, and Revenant’s absence, he is unaware of your arrest. I’ll have Haem Ila’Anaereae file the necessary hospital paperwork for you.”

  Cygni stared down at her feet.

  “You will work closely with Giselle, and do whatever she commands. Do you understand? Or would you rather go with Targth?”

  How could this be happening? She had killed the VoQuana monster, shouldn’t she be allowed a rest before the next one reared its ugly head? Cygni breathed in deep, trying to regain her equilibrium, but every time she closed her eyes she saw Pawqlan dying, felt the gun in her hands, saw Sinuthros’ blood pour from his body. She thought of Baron Keltan flopping about like a fish on the deck of the Queen Gaia, and wondered if killing Sinuthros had freed him from whatever had been done. She wanted to believe it did. There had to be some justice in all of this. There had to be something going right.

  “Well?” Baroness Sophiathena said.

  She looked up, knowing she couldn’t belong to the Khargs again. They would tear her to pieces for what she did to them on Minlea. They would beat her until she cried out for mercy, stitch her back together, and then do it again for days, weeks, years. She’d heard of the punishments they could inflict on their enemies. When they were done with her they’d take her so deep into the Empire that she would never see another Solan face again. The thought of it turned her gut to liquid.

  “I’ll work for you,” she whispered.

  “What?” the baroness demanded.

  “I’ll work for you.” It made her sick to say the words, but she knew she had to do it or she would return to that hell she thought she left on Minlea IV. I’m sorry, she said to herself as images of Sanul and Biren flashed through her mind. They were caught up in this, too, because of her. Biren would be a target of the Khargs as much as she was, and she couldn’t let herself be responsible for Sanul returning to slavery under them.

  “You are my instrument now, Cygni Aragón.” Baroness Sophiathena leaned back. The leather creaked beneath her.

  The limo descended to the street.

  “Now, run along home and get some rest. You’ve got a long day ahead of you tomorrow.”

  “Yes, baroness,” she said.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Fuyūyōsai, Taiumikai

  41:2:40 (J2400:3171)

  “I still can’t believe it,” Baron Mitsugawa said from Nero’s side. “Olivaar and Vargas dead, and Cylus missing.”

  It was strange news. Though the facts could be coincidental, Nero doubted it. “I would not have classified Baron Keltan as a potential killer, though he did get angry during the meeting with Baron Revenant.”

  Mitsugawa looked out over the parade ground from beneath the shadow of the balcony’s curved roof. The gray skies above made its colors look washed out. High above them a group of the long-necked, bird-like amphibians circled. Their wings cast broad shadows on the white-pebble covered ground.

  “If this is a plan of my sister’s, she’s gone too far.”

  “Doesn’t this help your position in the Barony? Olivaar was Revenant’s closest ally,” Nero said.

  “It makes Olivaar’s wife the new baroness of the Extra-Terrestrial Mining Corporation. Her maiden name is Revenant.” Baron Mitsugawa sighed.

  “Oh.” Nero grimaced.

  “Vargas will be succeeded by his son, Thuban, but only if he leaves the service of the Confederate Space Authority. If not, then his sister, Anica, will be baroness. Either way, they will have ample motive to oppose whatever Cylus does, and I have no doubts that they will be out for revenge.”

  “Vargas’ eldest is in the CSA?” He was surprised.

  “Yes, and the Star Corps before that. It was a scandal when he joined, but he cited something about being a true patriot, and it was eventually forgotten.” Mitsugawa gave him a side-long glance. “I don’t really remember it. I was too young at the time to take much notice. I think it was right around the Savorchan War.”

  That is correct according to my own information. Heir Thuban Vargas was a member of Star Corps assigned to the CSS Persephone during the conflict. That ship was a member of our battle group, though I have no record of direct interaction between you two—not that it means much, Prospero added after a pause. Nero wasn’t sure if that mean he accepted the likely truth of Daedalus’ actions, or if he was simply playing to Nero’s own fears. He tried to recall if he knew a Thuban Vargas, but nothing came. He had to wonder if the man was yet another part of his past missing on account of Daedalus.

  “Trouble for Cylus is likely to be trouble for me.” Mitsugawa grimaced.

  “What is it?”

  He seemed to struggle with something for a moment, then shook his head. “My sister has muddied the water. Baron Keltan and I may no longer be seeing entirely eye to eye. I won’t know until I see him again. When we meet up on Kosfanter later, I wouldn’t trust either of them with too much information. You should find my mother first.”

  “You’re aware I intend to go to Zov?”

  Baron Mitsugawa nodded. “Yes, and I understand why. The truth is I wish you would stay, but your mission can only strengthen our cause. Besides that, when has a baron ever stopped an Abyssian?”

  He chuckled but Nero did not share his humor. After a moment it died on his lips.

  “Don’t tell anything to my sister when you go back to the capital. Sophi seems to think that giving Zalor what he wants is the best way to undermine him.”

  “What?”

  “It was supposed to be a ruse, but if these deaths are the result—” Mitsugawa shook his head. He reached into his black kimono and produced a crystal square. “I had the Siren data from Elmorus hard-coded into this athenaeum. My techs completed the traceback on the serial numbers from the lab, but they lead to shell corporations. I think we’re going to need that captain of yours if we are to be successful. Should you fail on Zov, I’ll carry my copy of the evidence to the Barony. Without you this is only circumstantial, and I think the consequences of failing to prosecute Baron Revenant will be dire. I will never accept such a result.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know what you mean by that.” Nero took the crystal wafer from the baron. “It could be a while before I make it to Kosfanter.”

  “I understand, and I trust in your skills. I will need some time to straighten things up here, so all things taken together, that may be a good thing.” He hesitated. “Also, ah, I’ll have to get some things straightened out with the Cleebians.”

  “The Cleebians?”

  The baron’s eyes flickered back and forth. “No, never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything. Just, try to hurry back to Kosfanter when you can. Don’t bother messaging me. No need to tip off any listening ears. I’ll meet you there.”

  Nero nodded, looking back up at the bird-like creature
s. “What are they doing?”

  “Umitsuru are opportunists. They wander the ocean looking for fish that stray too close to the surface. Their long, serrated beaks make excellent spears. They also scavenge from the living atolls that cover this world. When they circle like this they usually are around a carcass.”

  Nero cocked an eyebrow. “There aren’t any around.”

  “When my half-sister saw them she said they’d grown used to getting free meals from humans. They feed on our garbage in the cities. They must be expecting something like that here.”

  “Do they do this a lot?”

  The baron sighed. “I haven’t been here often enough to know. I remember seeing them as a young boy.”

  They watched the dark cloud of winged beasts while the wind rose and fell. Nero found his thoughts straying to Setha.

  “Baron, I—” he hesitated. “It’s not like we’ve talked that often,” he said, and grimaced.

  “No, we haven’t spoken much, and I regret that. My aunt and cousins have kept me quite distracted. I think they might—” Mitsugawa shook his head. “Never mind that. What is it you want to tell me?”

  Nero swallowed. “Well, to be honest, Setha and I go way back, and I was wondering about—”

  A slight smile cracked the young mask of the baron’s face. “She said you might bring this up.”

  “She did?”

  “She’s quite perceptive. She thinks of you in much the same way. What you did for her on Savorcha had a big impact. You two are bound by it. I guess she may think of you like an older brother.”